Bluepulse Week 2016
by EmbraceSadness
Summary: Bluepulse Week is here! I decided to post it to this site incase people don't follow me on Tumblr, and hope to find stuff here instead! Come inside to find out about more! It involves crazy aliens, stupid brunettes, and hanging from a window ledge for five hours! XD
1. Chapter 1

_AN:_

 _Bluepulse week is finally here, guys! I'm so excited! And can't wait to share what i've got, so i'm posting it to this site, because why not? Enjoy this first day, "Love Wins" and stay tuned for tomorrow, one of my favorites, "AU's"._

 _-Sad_

* * *

 _Love wins, love always wins_

 _-Mitch Albom_

They never thought that they would end up here.

The darkness was coming. You could hear it like the alarm bells that rang about the area. A cry of solitude in the heat of the moment. The fear could be smelt from acres away. People were giving up. Were running.

But he couldn't. Not after the monster he had created threatened to destroy the entirety of the world.

He was a hero, right? But he didn't really feel like it. Not like maybe Gar or Beast Boy did. Not like Batgirl and Nightwing. But, the truth was, he wasn't like them. He had kind of known that from the beginning, but it was still hard to understand.

When you're little, your parents always tell you you're special. Special, but in the best kind of way. He honestly didn't feel very special. Not at all.

The truth of the matter was that he was staring into the face of his own destruction. He had failed his best friend. Maybe even _more_ than that. However he chose to view it, he had let him down. That probably hurt more than anything else that was happening.

They were planning...on killing him. So that he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone. Couldn't they see that it wasn't his fault? That he wasn't in control of his actions? He was being influenced by a higher source, one that he couldn't control!

But, he posed a threat to the world. To the people.

So they were going to kill his best friend.

The truth once again slammed into him like the cold winds around him. Wonder Girl's hair was flowing in the breeze. She was staring up at the hero now deemed deadly; tears in her crystal blue eyes.

' _Don't cry, Cass._ ' he felt like telling her, ' _It's what he would want._ '

But was it really? What did he really know about this person? The guy he thought he knew better than his own past. It hurt just to look at him now. To see what he had become. What he _would_ become.

 _You failed him. You failed him._

A degrading voice kept whispering that into his ear, poisoning his mind.

 _You failed him. You failed him. You fai-_

 _No_. No, not yet.

He took a step forward, towards him. Towards the one he believed he knew better than anybody else. Maybe even better than himself. He would show them. The hero they believed to be long gone was still there. Was still in there, _somewhere_. He knew it! He _had_ to be!

He swore he could feel him whispering softly on the winds of the darkness.

" _Bart_!" he called out, but his voice was lost on those same winds. The whispers grew louder, each one gutting a knife into his stomach and twisting it around for a remaining after effect. "Bart!" he tried again.

"Jai- _Blue Beetle_! What are you _doing_!?" he could hear Nightwing shout, but the dark-haired teen could care less. He willed his armor to crawl off his skin, not caring about the harsh winds that tore at his now very much exposed skin or the soft lighting strikes that hit him and left a tingling sting that lingered painfully.

"BART!"

Angry, green eyes turning to meet his soft, doe brown. Bart's mouth was curved into a leering sneer. His pupils dilated and far away. So far, that Jaime wondered if he could even reach out that far to touch him. To bring him back.

"Bart." he said again, but more calmly this time, eyes wandering over Bart's broken and bloodied form. Lighting crackled all around him, illuminating the tears in his Kid Flash uniform. He huffed, his breathing laboured and shallow, as though he knew every breath he took was only to be borrowed, not to keep. Like he knew that he would have to give it back eventually.

Bart knew. He _always_ knew.

" _Jaime_." he hissed. And just like that, the monster spoke. Eyes wide, teeth grinding together as though to break up any resemblance of a past life that could have been. After everything they had been through. Crazy, stalker aliens and an assortment of colorful accusations, _this_ was what was going to be the ending factor?

The Speed Force was eating him alive. Jaime didn't know what that felt like, but he figured that it was painful as fuck.

Jaime quickly grew tired of just saying his name over and over. He cleared his throat.

"Bart, you need to stop." he tried calming the boy, but the wind just picked up around him, howling in his ears. He winced as a pained expression filled Bart's features, and another surge of electricity almost swept him off his feet.

 **Jaime Reyes. The danger of proceeding with this tactic could be life threatening.**

"Is that a warning?"

 **A fact.**

"Scarab again, Blue?" Bart laughed, but there was something crazed about it. Something that was just wrong. It wasn't Bart's laugh. Not _his_ Bart's laugh.

His Bart's laugh wasn't the one he had just forced out. It wasn't the fake one he used when lying about his future either. His Bart's laugh was soft, but powerful. Smooth, but chipped around the edges. Warm, but somewhat cold at the same time. And the more he began describing Bart's laugh-which was really weird, who does that?-the more he began to realize that he was actually describing Bart.

Funny. As though the teen wasn't on his mind enough.

As though he didn't think of him every time he picked up a pack of junk food. Or when he passed by a ginger with freckles. Or when he watched the lighting with his sister on those deep, dark nights when thunderstorms were inevitable.

Or when he went to bed. Or when he woke up. Or when he walked into the cave.

Or, or, _or…_

"You can't let it beat you, Bart." he spoke firmly, but he felt himself shaking all over. Not from the cold. Not from fear. Maybe from fear. Jaime shut his eyes and took in a deep breath. Bart laughed a laugh that sounded so twisted and vile, it made Jaime want to grab him in his arms and run away as fast as he could.

But he couldn't. Too many things at stake. Too many lives at risk.

"Is this what it's really come to?" he smirked, but his smile was one of pain. Of anger. He was so... _angry_. It was like he wanted to rip a hole into time and space just to be able to scream into it. He could tell Bart wanted to scream. Honestly, Jaime wanted to as well.

Bart grinned fiercely down at him once more. Jaime felt physically ill.

 **You are in danger, Jaime Reyes.**

"You're in danger too. We're both in the way of a human lightning bolt, don't you remember?"

 **I did not mean it in that sense.**

Jaime smiled at that, but only for a moment. Then, he felt a burning pain everywhere, and his scream filled the air. He felt his arms being tugged over his head and somebody grabbing his chin upwards. He stared fearfully into Bart's green eyes once more. The other growled.

"FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE WOULD YOU LISTEN TO ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU, DAMN IT!?" he screamed wildly, and Jaime's eyes widened. He almost cursed out, but decided that perhaps _shutting the hell up_ would be a better idea. He could almost hear Khaji letting out a string of warnings, but forced himself to focus on Bart.

The brown-haired speedster smirked. "Alright. _Thank you_ , for doing that."

He was so close he could feel Bart's breath on his cheek. Could feel his eyes boring into his own relentlessly. He swallowed miserably, and tried to open his mouth to say something, but the words were stuck on his tongue. They choked on his throat and tied his vocal chords together like strings.

He couldn't speak. Couldn't move.

But, Bart could.

"You know... _you know_ , I _thought_ you were a good person. I thought that you were pretty crash. Like, crasher than everyone else, _that's_ how crash I thought you were." he breathed, a sad laugh falling from his throat, "But now I see the truth. You're just a scared little kid. Like me. Like them. Like _everyone_. You're not the great, big, Blue that you've made yourself out to be. You're not as strong."

That not only twisted the remaining knives left in his gut, but shoved them an inch deeper. Jaime didn't have a chance to contemplate on whether or not this was true in any sense of the manner, though, because Bart let him go as another one of his gut-wrenching cries pierced the air. Lightning burst in fits all around. Too bad Wally was dead. Too bad Barry was hurt. Maybe they would have known what to do.

Too bad. _Really_ too bad. Such a damn shame.

"I'm so strong, Jaime! _Look_! _Look_ at me! _See_?" he grinned, taking Jaime's face in his hands. Ice cold hands. "The REACH will _never_ be able to take me again. _You_ won't ever be able to take me again."

He nodded his head, as though to try to convince himself of the truth. He let go of Jaime, and took a few steps back. "No, no. I'm too strong now. _So_ strong, Jaime. Strong."

Jaime blinked. He forced himself up.

"You're right, Bart. You _are_ strong."

Bart's head whipped up, his eyes wide and mouth hanging halfway open. The look of power, of control, was now replaced with one of fear. Jaime began to realize that Bart wasn't a monster. He wasn't the bad guy. He was just scared. And, honestly, he could relate. Not knowing what you're doing or how to stop it was something that he had experienced quite personally. And, all he had done was cry out for help. In the beginning, nobody had been there for him.

And then Bart came along. And he changed everything. He always did.

Maybe it wasn't the best time to be acknowledging this, but Jaime figured that he was probably in love with Bart. The world could possibly ending, and he wanted to make-out with the prettiest boy in the world he'd ever seen. Bart was probably not even gay. Jaime didn't even know if he _himself_ was gay.

But, end of the world. And megalomaniac aliens. And apocalypses.

He reached out towards Bart. He took a step forward. Bart took one back. Another step forward. The brunette took five, fast steps back. His green eyes were wide and filled with uncertainty. With power came fear, at least. They were kind if like a package deal. You couldn't get one without the other. And, Bart was so far away. So enveloped in his fear, it was as though they had already slapped a postmark on him and were ready to mail him from the hell of which he came.

"You're so strong, Bart. And fast."

He was close to him again. He could just stare into those beautiful eyes for a lifetime if the Gods above would allow it. But it seemed as though every time he got this close to Bart, there was always a problem. Something to be done. Something to be saved.

But, right now, Bart was backed into a corner. He had nowhere to run. Jaime was so close to him. This time, he wouldn't be getting away.

" _S-stay away!_ " Bart cried, lightning passing through his eyes, snapping around them. "Stay away, or i'll _kill_ _you_!"

 **The Kid Flash lies.**

"Yeah. I know."

' _Do you?_ ' his thoughts echoed in his mind. He probably didn't. But, still, he could feel the proximity between them. He stepped so close that he was, once again, only inches away from Bart's face. He reached out and cupped the boy's cheek with his hand.

"You don't have to do this." he said.

"Yes, I do."

"Why?"

"Because it hurts, Jaime. It fucking hurts."

"I know."

' _Do you?'_

"I know everything." he reassured. Bart shook his head, attempting to slip from Jaime's grasp.

"No, you don't. You can't." he whispered, shaking his head even harder. Tears pooled out from those beautiful eyes of his. Jaime felt like taking him and protecting him and never letting him go. He felt like stealing him away from all this in an instant. He wanted to go live somewhere in the middle of nowhere with him. He wanted to stay close to him forever.

He realized, with a growing courage, that he wanted to _stay_ with him forever.

"There's something i've been meaning to say." he finally spoke, breathing in deeply. "For awhile now, i've been meaning to say it. And I guess that now may not be the best time, and it's cliché as hell, but, fuck it, i'm going to do it anyway."

' _Deep breaths. Deep breaths.'_

 **Elevated heart rates suggest that your current breathing patterns are detrimental.**

"Got any tactics for me, Scarab?"

 **Suggested tactic: Tell the Kid Flash the truth.**

Jaime laughed. "Of course." Bart stared at him confusedly. It didn't even matter in that moment where they were or that all the people behind them could clearly see them. It didn't matter that Bart was slipping and that Jaime was maybe losing his mind over that fact.

"I love you, Bart Allen. I always have. I always will."

The winds died down. The lightning bursting around them ceased. The sudden quiet atmosphere was peacefully deafening. Bart blinked.

"What?"

Jaime laughed once more. He grabbed Bart's chin and gently tilted it upwards so that they were staring one another in the eye. The fear was gone. It was replaced with something else. Hope? Relief?

Happiness?

There was something there. Jaime could get lost in Bart's eyes each and every time he looked there.

"I _love_ you." he repeated, "In the 'More Than Friends' kind of way. In the 'I Want To Kiss Your Face' kind of way. And, you know, I get it if you don't return the feelings. I mean, i'm a weirdo, I know. And i'm also pretty sure you probably have the hots for Cissie, because you've always seemed into her. I just needed to get that off my chest. So, if it's not repriciocal-"

He was interrupted when Bart's lips slammed into his. Like one of those clichéd movies or books. Like a fairytale. He didn't have much time to ponder this, though, because he was soon lost in the kiss. His brain buzzed happily. His eyes shone.

Bart grinned as he backed into the corner once more. He wasn't running. He wasn't slipping. Jaime's heart hammered wildly in his chest.

He realized what that emotion in Bart's eyes had been. He couldn't believe he had even missed it to begin with!

Love. It was _love_.

"You have _no_ idea how long i've been waiting for you to say that, Blue." he whispered. He smiled softly, and Jaime's cheeks heated up at the nickname that Bart always insisted on using. They heated up even more at the whistles and soft hoots he could hear from his supposed "friends" in the background.

He didn't know whether they were cheering because Bart was back, or because of what had just happened.

He didn't really care.

Bart reached out and took Jaime's hand. Jaime squeezed it softly.

"HEY JAIME! GET SOME!"

" _SHUT THE HELL UP, GAR."_

* * *

"Thank you for saving me." Bart whispered softly later on in the Bio-Ship. Nightwing was in the process of congratulating the Team on their successful mission. Jaime didn't even want to remember what their original plan had been.

He liked this plan much better.

"I did it in the most cliché way, too." he grinned.

Bart laughed. "My knight in shining blue armor."

"You know it."

But really, it hadn't been Jaime that had saved the day. He had been apart of it, but it wasn't to be put up to him. As he held Bart's hand tightly, and promised himself that he was never going to let go ever again, a small smile found it's way onto his face.

Bart cackled at something Garfield said. Jaime shut his eyes.

Love had prevailed. Love had won.

It always did.


	2. Chapter 2

_Day 2: AU'S is a go for Bluepulse Week 2016!. I'm going to put a little trigger warning over here. If you have a fear of heights or any other MAJOR phobias or anxieties that could affect you negatively, please proceed with caution whilst reading this. Other than that, this is comedic (hopefully), and enjoy! :D_

 _-Sad_

* * *

 _"you found me hanging by my fingertips from your window and I don't want to tell you i was trying to rob you but idk how else to explain this and I don't want to go to jail and also you're kind of cute we should make out when i'm not clinging onto your window ledge for my life" AU_

* * *

Thump.

Jaime Reyes awoke to the sound of an annoying rapping somewhere or other. He turned to look at his clock and groaned as he realized it was three-thirty in the morning. He threw a pillow at the wall and screamed at his neighbor to shut the hell up.

God knows what sort of a " _good time_ " she was having in there…

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

"SHUT UP CASSIE, I'M SERIOUS."

Silence.

Good. Now he could get back to sleep. He had a chem test tomorrow he hadn't yet studied for, and it was really stressing him out. That, and there was the whole "I Accidentally Made Out With My Boss Last Week, Whoops I'm Sorry" thing he was going to have to deal with tomorrow.

He couldn't help it that his boss was hot. Or that they had both been drunk off their asses.

Silence. Beautiful, blissful, silence.

He shut his eyes softly, allowing his mind to retract from the world.

…

 _THUMPTHUMPTHUMP_ -

"DAMN IT!" he swore, jumping out of bed and throwing his covers to the floor. He was shirtless, and in his underwear. It was now three-thirty four. He was not in the mood for this shit.

"I'm going to-" he muttered, reverting back to Spanish mid sentence only to relieve many curse words that were on his mind. He walked over to his door, completely ready to go and berate the shit out of his nearby resident when he realized that the thumping wasn't coming from her room…

It was coming from his own.

Thrown off, Jaime paused. He stood silently for about a minute, listening for where the sound was coming from.

Thump. Thump. _THUMP_.

His window. It was coming from...his _window_?

Now sincerely puzzled, Jaime began walking towards his window. He stopped halfway there, and retreated back to his closet. The loud thumping persisted as he rummaged around in there. He grabbed on a pair of pants and a t-shirt that probably hadn't been washed in weeks. He returned to the window with a plastic bat that his sister had jokingly got him for Christmas five years ago. She said that he could use it to further "preoccupy" himself. Jaime had jokingly hit her over the head with it.

The thing hadn't seen the light of day in years.

He slowly approached the window, holding the red, plastic baseball bat close to him. The thumping was even more prevalent now. In fact, it wouldn't stop. He swallowed the fear in his throat down to his stomach. His heart battered wildly in his chest.

In one swift movement, Jaime twisted so that he was prepared to fight whatever stupid bird had managed to find it's way onto his window, tore up the sash (it was one of those crappy ones that you had to pull up to actually kind of see out of), and let out a battle cry that was so pathetic, it kind of just died on his throat halfway through everything.

Silence.

And then;

"Hey!"

Jaime whipped his head back outside, eyes wide and mouth hanging halfway open. Okay, so, not a bird. But definitely a ghost. He had definitely heard someone say "hey", but there was no one outside.

"HEY!"

What the fuck?

"Down here, big guy!"

Jaime glanced down and screamed, jumping away from the window frame in a manner that could resemble that of his dead cat Mittens. He sat there, breathing heavily for a quarter of a second, before he was up and back at the window once more.

There was a boy hanging from his window sill.

Well, boy-man. He was more of a man from the looks of it. But Jaime was so shocked, he just stared disbelievingly at the young adult for about thirty seconds. The guy grinned back nervously, chuckling anxiously.

"Hey. Um, so, yeah. I'm kind of stuck."

Flabbergasted. That was what Jaime was. His eyes wide, mouth hanging open. It was now three forty-one. And there was a person hanging from his window ledge.

"Could you maybe-?"

Jaime screamed suddenly, and brought the bat down on the guy's fingers. He also screamed, and held on tighter. This caused Jaime to bring down the bat a couple more times, until he was only hanging on by one hand.

"OH MY GOD, ARE YOU _TRYING_ TO KILL ME?"

"WHAT THE _FUCK_ ARE YOU DOING ON MY WINDOW LEDGE."

"I WAS _TRYING_ TO ROB YOU, BUT OBVIOUSLY THAT PLAN WENT TO SHIT."

"WHAT THE FUCK, THIS IS THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR."

The guy screamed once more, as his only hand left on the window ledge began to slip. He turned up desperately to look Jaime right in the eyes. "'You found me hanging by my fingertips from your window and I don't want to tell you I was trying to rob you, but I don't know how else to explain this, and I don't want to go to jail, and also you're kind of cute, we should make out when i'm not clinging onto your window ledge for my life. PLEASE DON'T LET ME DIE."

Jaime only really got the second part of the rant. Just as the guy completely slipped from the window ledge, Jaime grabbed his hand. He was going to pull him back in. You know, be the hero, despite the fact that this idiot had tried to rob him up on the thirteenth fucking floor.

He was going to save him and then call the shit out of the police to come haul this guy's ass to jail.

But, this apparently wasn't Jaime's night, because as soon as he caught the guy, he also began to slip through the window. They both screamed, and Jaime attempted to hold on, but they ended up dangling from the thirteenth floor window by Jaime's legs.

"OH MY GOD." the stranger screamed, "WE'RE GONNA _DIE_."

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE THIS WAY." Jaime yelled back, "I HAVE SO MUCH TO LIVE FOR."

"FUCK YOU, I HAVE A DAUGHTER AT HOME."

" _BULLSHIT_."

"OKAY, YEAH, BUT I THOUGHT THAT MAYBE GOD WOULD BE NICE IF I SAID I DID."

"ARE YOU _FUCKING KIDDING ME_ RIGHT NOW?"

"WE'RE HANGING FROM A WINDOW LEDGE THIRTEEN FLOORS UP, _OF COURSE I'M NOT SHITTING YOU."_

This went on for awhile, both of them screaming as Jaime grip on the window ledge also slipped. The safety in this place was complete shit. In a desperate attempt to not fall to his bloody death with this complete stranger, Jaime hooked his pant leg onto a hook that he usually put his flowers in. It latched on (luckily, the material on his pants was actually really durable) and he sighed in relief.

"We're going to _die_." the stranger moaned, "I'm going to _die_ on a _fucking window ledge_ holding hands with a _hot latino_."

Jaime raised an eyebrow, but decided to ignore that last comment. The guy continued moaning and pissing about how they were going to die horrible deaths, and Jaime just rolled his eyes.

He was already doing the math in his head.

Every morning, Cassie came over to have a coffee with him. She woke up at exactly nine-thirty, and arrived at his place by nine forty-five to wake him up because he had the terrible habit of sleeping in and missing work. So, Cassie stole his coffee, and he used her as his personal alarm clock.

He could estimate that it was probably almost four in the morning at this time.

Meaning, that if they stayed like this for another five and a half hours, he could call to Cassie as soon as she got in…

So, survive five and a half hours with a really cute stranger who had tried to rob him, only to have put them both in danger…

 _Shit_ , he was going to die.

* * *

"So, what's your name?" the guy asked almost too casually as they hung uselessly from Jaime's window. The latino raised a fine eyebrow.

"We're hanging for our lives from a window ledge, and you want to know my _name_?" he questioned quizzically.

The guy shrugged. "Well, yeah, I mean. You're kind of cute." Jaime blinked, not really knowing what to do with the weird compliments the guy was still giving him, but decided to humour the jerk nonetheless.

"It's Jaime." he said.

"Cool" the guy grinned, "I'm Bart!"

"I don't care." Jaime responded flatly, not amused with the entirety of this situation.

The stranger-Bart-pouted. " _Awww_." he began, "Are you still mad at me for trying to rob you?"

" _No_." Jaime grumbled.

"Yes you are, pussypants." Bart teased, giving Jaime one of the biggest smile he had ever seen in his life. Jaime just sighed annoyedly.

"You're an annoying fucker. You do know I could drop you, right?" he questioned with a smirk. The look of terror on Bart's face was almost worth it all at that point.

"OH MY GOD, PLEASE NO."

* * *

"My head hurts." Jaime whined, trying to shift his body in order to make the current position he was in more comfortable. There was really no use, though. He was upside down. And with all the blood rushing to his head, Jaime felt really uncomfortable to say the least.

"Yeah?" Bart began, scowling, "Well, my arm hurts like hell, and you don't see me complaining!"

"You just did." Jaime pointed out. Bart just scowled, and shifted in an attempt to also make himself more comfortable in the awkward position they were currently in.

This was their " _Shiting To Get More Comfortable All The While Scowling And Whining_ " phase that they went through whilst hanging from the windowsill.

It wasn't fun.

* * *

"Could you maybe not breathe so loudly?" Jaime hissed, and Bart looked up at him with a glare. Just to piss him off, he began breathing even louder than he had been before. So loud, it was almost as though he were wheezing.

"Oh my God! Shut the fuck up! You sound like a smoker!"

Bart just grinned, and kept right on at it.

* * *

"I'm _boreeeeeedddddddd_." Bart whined for the fiftieth time in a minute. Jaime sighed and went back to reviewing all the chem topics he was supposed to be going over for the test tomorrow. Bart clacked his feet together five times, and repeated the phrase once more.

"Deal with it!" Jaime growled out distractedly, still going through the different phase changes in his mind.

"But I don't want to deal with it."

Jaime let out a strangled sound. "You're the one who got us into this mess in the _first place_ , remember!?" he hissed, shuffling once more. Bart continued on whining and pouting about how unfair this entire situation was.

Jaime just rolled his eyes.

How many hours to go?

Too many.

* * *

"That's a weird looking bird."

Jaime blinked out of his headspace to see a seagull looking over at them, it's head cocked to the side almost curiously. He cursed, glaring at the wretched thing as though he could burn it to a crisp if he stared hard enough. Bart looked up at him, bewildered.

"Why are you glaring at a bird?"

"Because birds fucking suck."

"You're not afraid of birds, are you?"

"No."

" _Ohmygod_ , you are."

" _Shut_ _up_." Jaime grumbled angrily, almost crossing his arms over his chest before remembering that one was currently extended and holding up the dumb redhead. Honestly, he would drop him (he was getting sick of his face), but he didn't want to be convicted for murder or anything.

His arm was numb. At least Bart didn't weigh much, but still...

"Changing topics," he began, "Why the hell _did_ you decide to rob me?" He glared down at the annoyance that he was now practically glued to. Bart blinked and then shrugged.

"Don't know."

Jaime stared in disbelief.

"You mean you climbed a building and tried to get in some guy's window to rob him just for _shits and giggles?_ " he asked, flabbergasted. Bart tended to confuse and annoy the hell out of him simultaneously. Twenty-four-seven.

Quite the feat, since he could usually manage his tolerance level quite well.

Bart was just that special.

"I mean, I saw you in the lobby. You _looked_ pretty hot…"

"The thirteenth floor, _really_ , Bart?"

"I wanted to see if those rock climbing sessions paid off."

"They did _jack_ , _esé_ , you ended up dangling from a window sill."

"Guess my instructor won't be very happy."

Jaime, despite himself, laughed.

* * *

" _WHEEEEEE_!"

Jaime suddenly found himself screaming as Bart pushed off against the wall with his feet and they went spinning around in circles at a rate that was too fast for Jaime to keep up with. The world began around him began spinning. Every noise seemed a hundred times louder than it actually was.

Bart pushed off once more.

"JESUS CHRIST, ARE YOU TRYING TO GET US KILLED!?"

"Dude, this is awesome. It's like our own personal Merry Go Round." Bart smirked. Jaime's brain bashed into the sides of his skull. He felt nauseous.

"YOU'RE GOING TO RIP THE SEAMS OF MY PANTS. YOU'LL SEND US TO OUR DEATHS YOU BLOODY IDIOT." he shrieked as he heard more ripping in the precious material that was currently keeping them alive.

Bart winced dramatically " _Ohhh_. My bad."

"Your bad? _YOUR BAD?_ "

"Why yes, MJ, I _am_ , thank you very much for noticing."

Jaime seriously considered dropping him right then and there, and allowing his guts to spill all over the streets below.

* * *

 _"-YOU NEED TO WAKE UP."_

Jaime jerked, his entire body shaking. Bart screamed, as there was another audible rip that came from his pant leg. Jaime cursed, shifting so that it hopefully wouldn't rip anymore. He grabbed onto Bart's sweaty hand quite tightly.

Wait, sweaty, what the fuck?

" _Ewww_. Your palm's all clammy." he whined, wanting to desperately wipe his hand on his pants. This would present two problems which both involved falling to their deaths, so he just held on even tighter to the wet, slippery palm and grumbled to himself about how unsanitary it was.

"That would be your fault, you jackass." Bart huffed, out of breath, "You fell asleep, _jerk_."

Jaime's eyes widened.

"Seriously?"

"Well, _duh_." Bart responded, "Though, if that was your best idea of getting rid of me, then you need to check yourself, my friend." he snarked.

Jaime rolled his eyes. "I could still drop you." he hummed.

"Nah." Bart spoke up, more to himself than Jaime, "Nah, you wouldn't. I'm pretty sure you're too good for that."

Jaime raised an eyebrow. "Since when did you become an expert on all things me?"

Bart grinned. "Since we ended up dangling from a windowsill together for two and a half hours?"

Jaime groaned. "Has it really been that long?"

Bart just laughed in response.

"We've made it this far." he assured both Bart, and himself as well, "No way am I dying with a freckled idiot who decided to climb thirteen floors to rob some hot latino he saw in a lobby."

Bart smirked. "Oh, so we've graduated from "latino" to " _hot_ latino", huh?"

Jaime blushed, though he hoped the lights and darkness around them would conceal it. Sadly, by the telltale look on Bart's face, they probably did not. " _Shut up_." he glowered.

Bart giggled. "You're _cute_ when you're mad." He laughed again.

Jaime was beginning to love that laugh.

* * *

"Hey! I just remembered! I have my phone with me!"

Jaime snapped out of the world of phases and chemical and physical reactions only to have his eyeballs pop out of their sockets. His jaw dropped, and he craned his head down to stare at the stupid thief who had the dumbest grin on his face.

 _"You what?"_

Bart looked up at him and busted out laughing.

"Your _face_ , oh my _God_ -"

"That's not funny."

"It's pretty funny." Bart smirked. Jaime glared squarely at him. Bart fumbled around in his pockets with his one hand, attempting to grab the damned thing.

"Here it is! _I-_ "

He didn't get to finish his sentence, as the phone suddenly fell out of his one hand in slow motion. Both their mouths opened to also scream in slow motion. Bart stuck out his foot at an awkward angle, the phone just barely landing on his sneaker.

The pair sighed in relief.

And then began to panic.

"Bart, _I swear to God_ , if you drop that thing…"

" _Relax_. I've _got_ this. Good old lefty here is holding the phone. I'll just _carefully_ transfer it to my hand, _and_ …"

The rest of what he was going to say was also lost to the world, as Bart began mumbling incoherent things as he attempted a variety of different measures to get the phone back to his hand. He eventually began fumbling with his shoes. Jaime watched the entire process, mesmerized at the thought of finally getting off the damned windowsill.

He had been an idiot and had left his phone inside.

Then again, he hadn't exactly been expecting to fall out a window, had he?

This was how Bart managed to lose his first shoe.

They both watched as it slipped off his foot and fell to the ground below. Nobody on the street below really seemed to notice it. It wasn't that busy, anyways. Jaime cursed in his native tongue. Bart used a whole lot of colorful words in an attempt to save the phone.

Jaime didn't know when or even how it happened, but Bart ended up propelling both the phone and his remaining shoe in the air in hopes of catching them.

He didn't.

They both watched, mortified, as the two things also fell to the street below. Jaime was left with a sense of dread and a very shoeless Bart.

Bart blinked down passively at the shoes.

"Well, I never _was_ the best at Little League."

Jaime screamed and swore at him for about ten minutes after that. Bart just kept right on grinning the entire time.

"Think of it this way, Jaime, " he cackled, "You get to spend more time up here with me!"

"Oh, _fuck you_."

* * *

"Umm, Jaime?"

" _What_?"

"...I have to pee."

"... _fuck_ …"

* * *

"HEY! I think some of my urine just hit that old lady down there!"

"OH MY GOD, SHUT UP."

"SORRY ABOUT THAT, LADY."

"BART. SHUT UP, OR I'LL MAKE YOU SHUT UP."

"Ohhh. Details?"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP."

* * *

"You seem kind of distracted."

Jaime turned and shot a look in Bart's direction. Bart looked up at him quizzically. He moved his one free hand around to gesture at Jaime.

"I mean, you're here, but you're not _here_ , you know?" he attempted to explain. Jaime sighed.

"Yeah, i'd rather be anywhere _but_ here." he stated the obvious. Bart snickered.

" _Duh_." he chided, "But, seriously. Where are you?"

Jaime sighed again. It was stupid, but he figured he didn't exactly have a reason not to tell Bart. He cleared his throat.

"Umm…" he began, "I- _er_ -actually have a Chemistry test tomorrow that I didn't study for…" he trailed off, averting his eyes back to the ground down below them.

Bart snorted. " _Really_?"

Jaime scoffed. "Well, it's better than thinking about your putrid face."

Bart feigned hurt. " _Ouch_. That one really stung. I mean, I was _going to_ offer to help you out with the whole chemistry thing, but now i'm not so sure…I'm honestly feeling pretty attacked right now."

"Right. Like you of all people could help me out with my Chem test." he snorted. Bart smiled knowingly up at him.

"Actually, I was majoring in Chemistry before I dropped out of college."

"Please don't say that word while we're up here- _WAIT_ , you dropped out of college?"

Bart rolled his eyes. "Not the point." he sighed, and then grinned.

"I mean, I _could_ help you, if you _wanted_." he smirked, "Anything is better than thinking about your putrid face, right?" he joked. Jaime snorted.

"Glad we're in agreement, my friend."

Bart slapped his hand against his pant leg. They swung a little from side to side. Jaime cursed out, and Bart apologized whilst snickering.

"So. You at least know the formula for Photosynthesis, correct?"

Jaime stared blankly at him.

Bart sighed.

"Well, shit. This may take a while."

* * *

" _I see London, I see France, I see Jaime's underpants-_ "

"Bart, shut the _fuck_ up."

"I didn't know you wore _Batman_ underwear, bro."

"It's not _my_ fault my jeans are fucking ripping because _I_ had to hook them to a flower holder because _you_ got us stuck on a _fucking window ledge_."

"Are you blushing?"

"I swear to God, Bart, I will drop your ass onto that sidewalk _so fast_."

* * *

When Jaime was stressed, or angry, and sometimes-rarely-even really happy, he would revert back to his native tongue. Which was exactly what he began doing sometime after the fourth hour. He rambled in Spanish without any interruptions for about five minutes, until Bart of course decided that he just had to speak up.

"Is that Spanish?"

Jaime stopped mid-rant. He turned to glare at the green-eyed, clammy-handed, robber who had a kink for feisty hispanics, apparently.

"Yeah. It is." he answered, slightly unnerved, "So?"

Bart blinked blankly. "You're Spanish?"

Jaime blinked back, now extremely confused. "Well, yeah, _duh_. I mean, you've actually referred to me as a latino, did you not clue in?"

Bart smirked. " _Hot_ latino," he corrected, and Jaime rolled his eyes whilst blushing, "And, I don't know, I guess it never really occurred to me that you might actually be Spanish. I'm dumb."

"Yeah," Jaime agreed full heartedly, "Yeah, you totally are."

Bart grinned. "Think you could maybe teach me?"

Jaime just stared disbelievingly at him for a couple of minutes. He narrowed his eyes, taking in every little detail there was to know about Bart. Finally, he just shrugged.

"Sure. Whatever."

Bart's head whipped up, the biggest smile on his face. "Wait, _seriously_?"

Jaime shrugged once more. "Sure. I mean, I might die now. Might as well share something of my upbringing with someone else."

Bart grinned again. That smile was really growing on Jaime.

"Great, _a-mi-go_. Can't wait to get started!" he proclaimed cheerily. Jaime winced at the terrible pronunciation. He sighed.

"Okay. Rule number one. Never say that word again."

Bart beamed. "You've got it, _e-se_."

Jaime moaned. Bart guffawed.

* * *

" _Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety nine bottles of beer-!_ "

"NO."

" _-take one down, pass it around, ninety-eight bottles of-_ "

 _"DON'T YOU FUCKING START, BART."_

* * *

"I just realized, i'm a really shit robber."

Jaime looked down at Bart amusedly. " _Really_? You're just figuring that out _now_?"

Bart smiled at that. He cracked his knuckles on the hand that was dangling in the air, staring down at the street below.

"Like, I must be the _only_ thief _ever_ to get both himself and his victim stuck on a windowsill for five hours waiting for the cranky lady to come over and free them."

Jaime grinned. "Yeah, pretty much. I think you should invest in a new profession, _vato_."

Bart frowned. "Even after that entire Spanish lesson, I still have no idea what you just called me, so i'm just going to assume that was a compliment."

 _"El burro sabe más que tú."_

"Why, yes, I _do_ look very handsome today, _thank you._ "

"You're still not going to apologize for all of this?" Jaime questioned exasperatedly, a hint of a small smile on his face. Bart smirked.

"Well, i'll admit, i'm a jackass, and a dumb one at that. But, _nope_ , I could _never_ apologize for this. This is the most fun i've had in _weeks_!"

Jaime simply rolled his eyes.

* * *

"Hey look! Sunrise!"

Bart's head turned up to where Jaime was motioning with his entire body (he couldn't exactly use his hands, they were supporting Bart). The freckled misfit smiled as he stared over at the pinkish sky in awe. He pushed off a little against the wall he had been using to better support his feet on, as well as to give Jaime a break from having to hold him like that for hours on end, in order to better see the amazing thing that was happening before their very eyes.

"Hey. That's really cool."

"Damn right it is." Jaime agreed.

The two just smiled like idiots as they watched the sun rise from its deep slumber.

* * *

"So, how many Bart-ups can you do?"

Jaime looked down happily. He was beginning to hate when Bart grew silent. The guy was stupid, but charming in a sense. Annoying, but entertaining nonetheless.

 _"Excuse you?"_

"Yeah! You look like the body-builder type. How many Bart-ups can you do in one sitting, tough guy?"

Jaime snorted. " _One_ , we're dangling, so I can't exactly do it ' _in one sitting'_ " he began, "And, _two_ , no _way_ am I risking falling down just to lift you tiny ass up and down a couple of times."

Bart pouted. " _Well_ , I _guess_ I could try seeing how many chin-ups I could do."

"If you make us fall to our untimely deaths-"

"Relax! I've got this!"

" _Bart_."

" _Ugh_. Party pooper."

* * *

"AHHHH! I CAN'T HOLD ON, BART! I CAN FEEL MY HAND SLIPPING!"

"WHAT? NOOOO! _NOOOOO!_ "

"I CAN FEEL IT! I'M GOING TO LET GO!"

"DON'T LET GO, DUDE. WHATEVER YOU DO! _OH MY GOD._ "

"OH NO! THIS IS TERRIBLE! _SHIT!_ "

 _"JESUS CHRIST, PLEASE NO!"_

"AH! IT'S _SLIPPING_! I'M _FALLING_!"

"WE'RE GOING TO _DIE_!"

"Hey Bart."

"WHAT? _WHAT!?_ "

"Just kidding."

"..."

* * *

" _This_...was a bad idea."

It had indeed been a bad idea. Though, there was some logic behind it. They had been hanging around in silence when Bart suggested that he try to climb out over Jaime in an attempt to make it back inside. Jaime had strongly disagreed with this idea, as falling to his bloody death after all this time still did not seem very appealing, if truth be told. But, Bart could be _quite persistent_.

And by " _quite persistent_ ", Jaime meant he made farting noises until the angry man solemnly agreed to allow his body to be used as a human ladder for the thief to make his getaway back into his home.

"I made it thirteen floors," was Bart's argument, "This will be a piece of cake!"

It was not a piece of cake.

" _Ummm_ , dude, where do I... _you know_ , put my _hands_?"

Jaime groaned, a blush forming on his cheeks. There were only so many places Bart could put his hands since he was very hazardously hanging upside down. Jaime had apparently forgotten about this when agreeing to be used as Bart's personal jungle gym.

He sighed.

"I don't know."

" _Erm_ , okay." Bart placed a hand tentatively on his thigh, and Jaime tensed up slightly. He cleared his throat, albeit awkwardly.

"You'll fall if you try to climb me like that." he stated, then grimaced at his choice of vocabulary. He could hear Bart shuffling awkwardly. For the next fifteen minutes, the two struggled to find a position in which Bart could easily access the window without disturbing any...certain spots on Jaime's person.

It ended up with Bart falling down once more and Jaime just nearly catching him.

Thus ended their awkward adventure of attempting to use one another's bodies as a means of escape from the "Death By Window" tactic.

(even saying that sentence just felt plain wrong)

* * *

"Oh God. I think the couple in that building over there are having sex."

 _"Wait, what?"_

"Yeah! See! Look over there, Bart. The big, glass window?"

"Ewww. That's disgusting. Get a room. _Without windows_."

"I can't _believe_ I have to watch this."

"You could just stare at my beautiful face instead."

" _Right_. As if."

"Oh God, now they're going _againstthewindow_ , _and-_ "

"TMI! _TMI_!"

"This feels so _wrong_."

"Then stop looking!"

"I _can't_ , Jaime. I'm _hooked_."

 _"Mierda."_

"Why aren't you looking, Jaime?"

 _"Jesus Christ almighty, hijo de puta-"_

"You know, that could be us…"

"Bart. If you know what's good for you, shut the fuck up."

"Kinky ass motherfuckers."

"I'm _so_ _done_ with this shit."

 _"They're not."_

 _"SON OF A FUCKING-"_

* * *

"So, like, maybe after all of this blows over, I could date you?"

Jaime choked on his own spit.

After many seconds of awkward spit-coughing that followed, he turned to stare flabbergasted at Bart, who was grinning like the Chesire cat. He waggled his eyebrows up and down.

"Yeah, Jaime. I want to date you. The hot latino. There's a sushi shop down the street from here. They make _bacon sushi_. It's _fucking_ awesome."

Jaime stared, wide eyed at Bart for a minute, who kept rambling on about bacon sushi and how it only cost around five bucks plus tax, and blah, blah, _blah_. Jaime squinted at him for awhile, trying to size him up. Was he joking around like he usually was? Was he serious?

"-and then you could take me dancing! AH! Oh my God Jaime, if it rains, we could dance in the rain! The ultimate love story!"

"Sure."

This time, it was Bart's turn to choke on his own spit. Jaime actually couldn't stop giggling, as Bart jerking around awkwardly whilst dangling from a window ledge was probably one of the best things in the world that he'd ever seen.

"Wait, really?" he asked, eyes wide. Jaime cracked a grin. Now that he thought about it, Bart was actually adorable, with those tiny freckles printed onto his cheeks and that great set of teeth which he really knew how to flaunt around when smiling.

"Sure. I mean, why the hell not? Nothing could be worse than this time we shared together, right?" he snarked, and Bart snickered.

"Are you sure? I'm actually pretty certain I can make you change your mind about that."

Jaime laughed. Bart smiled. The two lapsed into a peaceful silence.

"Tomorrow at eight, then?"

"Eight-thirty. It's a date."

Bart grinned.

"Will I get a _goodnight kiss_ from my _precious_ window-dangler?"

"Woah there, _esé_ , you might need to slow down."

* * *

"OH MY GOD, JAIME. WHAT THE FUCK."

Cassie leaned her head all the way out the window, eyes wide and filled with complete disbelief. She rubbed them as though to see if she were still dreaming. Jaime felt like assuring her she wasn't, because he had actually been living this nightmare for the past, now, five or so hours.

Bart clicked his tongue and nodded solemnly. "You must be the crazy coffee lady that comes over and wakes Jaime up every morning. Heard lots about you. All good things, of course."

Jaime snickered. He craned his neck to stare up at Cassie. "Hey, good ol' neighbor of mine. Mind getting us off of here?"

Cassie rushed to call for help in an instant.

"Good plan. Smart girl. Why didn't _you_ do that instead of falling out of a fucking window, Jaime?" Bart teased. Jaime rolled his eyes dramatically. Bart stuck out his tongue sassily.

And for a second, Jaime was scared that he was actually going to miss this.

* * *

After having successfully been saved from his window ledge (even saying that sounded so pathetic), Jaime thoroughly showered, changed his clothes, and downed about two pots of scorching hot coffee. Cassie took the day off work to be with him. Jaime was also taking the day off work, "recovering" from his incident.

When he finally sat down and was able to be at peace for more than a few seconds, he realized that Bart was actually gone.

The thought kind of saddened him, and he didn't know why. He had, after all, just spent five hours outside of his apartment just "hanging around" with the stranger thief that had idiotically climbed thirteen floors in a failed attempt to rob him.

Cassie asked many questions. "How did you get onto the window ledge?" and "Why didn't you scream for help?" and "Were you scared?" and "Where did you _piss_ , dude?" and "Who was that other guy with you?"

Jaime answered all of these with a knowing smile. Cassie just rolled her eyes.

"Oh, and, that weird guy?" she began, and extended her hand towards Jaime. In it was a piece of crumpled up loose leaf paper, "He left me this. Told me I should give it to you after you finally settled down."

Jaime took the note and thoroughly inspected it.

"You should know that I was very good," she continued on, "I didn't even look at it once! Not one peep!" Jamie snorted and Cassie laughed at her own joke. She continued blabbering on about something, and Jaime casually opened the sheet. On it was a number, as well as an address. That, and a message scrawled in messy handwriting as well.

 _'I'll pick you up tomorrow. Eight-thirty. If you ditch, you're a fucking bastard. Cheers._

 _-Bart_

 _P.S._

 _Thank you'_

Jaime smiled in relief. He didn't know why, but it felt good to know that he was going to be able to see Bart again, and on more simpler terms as well. He was actually pretty excited for tomorrow.

Bart made him laugh. Not many people did.

But, still, one part of the letter did confuse him. Why was Bart thankful? Because Jaime hadn't dropped him? Because he had agreed to go on the date tomorrow?

One thing was for sure; Bart Allen was an enigma that absolutely no one could solve.

But, Jaime decided he would take a shot at it nonetheless.

Why the hell not?

* * *

 _5 hours, 43 minutes previous…_

The world looked so small from where he stood.

Bart stared down blankly at the street below, swallowing his fear down into his stomach. He nodded to himself courageously.

This was the spot. This was where he would do it.

He took another step so that his feet were teetering on the edge of the roof of the vicinity. His heart was racing, eyes were shining in the darkness of the bright, blue city lights. It was early in the morning. Still dark around him.

Nobody would be here to see him. To witness what he was about to do.

He had already left a note back at his apartment, if anybody bothered to even check there, anyways. It seemed nowadays that nobody would. That nobody cared.

Sometimes, life was just too hard. And the feeling of not wanting to live but not wanting to die either was one that was really hard to come to terms with.

There were only so many options at this point in Bart's life.

Jumping was one of them.

He stared down once more, swallowing. His jaw was locked shut. He squinted in order to see the pavement below.

Jumping from here would ensure a bloody death.

Bart knew he would chicken out if he didn't just get it over with, but he was frozen in the moment. The decision of taking your own life was one that was really hard to make. Why couldn't someone have just killed him instead? Shot him in the head and have gotten it over with?

It was better than this. The knowing. The fear.

Bart was going to chicken out again like he had all the other times. He was going to walk away from it like he had all those other times. He really would have, but in the moment he misstepped and tripped over the side of the building. He yelped as he went down, latching on to the first thing he could grab.

A window ledge. A _window_.

He had fallen a couple of floors, so his arms really hurt, but he still reached up and banged relentlessly on the window before he dropped his hand back down to his side. The fear and adrenaline outweighed the pain. Despite the fact that he could just let go and fall and be done with it, he was, quite honestly, petrified.

He should have looked up a tutorial for how to do this. _Shit_.

He banged on the window again, wincing and biting his lip. Of course nobody was going to answer. It was far too early in the morning. The person inside was probably a deep sleeper. Hell, what was to say there even was a person inside?

Bart squeezed his eyes shut. His grasp began to slip.

' _God,'_ he began, _'Don't know if you're listening, but if you want to save my pathetic life for some reason, then here's your chance. In thirty seconds i'm going to let go. No chickening out. Give me a sign please. Don't let me die.'_

He kept his eyes shut.

Ten seconds past. Then fifteen.

Twenty.

Bart sighed, smiling softly as he began to loosen his grip.

 _'No chickening out this time,'_ he reminded himself, _'None of that shit, Allen.'_

And then, just as he was going to let go, a sign from above fell on top of him. In the form of a pure miracle, a stranger tore open the window and looked out. Bart stared upwards, eyes widened in shock. He registered saying something, but his mouth was moving faster than his brain, like it always did.

And then the stranger looked down. And Bart locked eyes with him, and couldn't help but smile.

 _'So, this is my sign, huh?'_

Maybe, just _maybe_ , he could find something worth living for after all...

* * *

 _Review please! :D_


	3. Chapter 3

_AN: Welcome to Bluepulse Week 2016: Day 3: Nightmare. This one may seem a little rushed, and i'm sorry for that. Kind of had to squeeze it in after everything. But, enjoy nonetheless!_

 _Trigger Warning: There are vague but heavy mentions to assault and abuse in this chapter. If this is going to bother or put you in a sense of danger, please do not read. I tried to stay away from the angst, but...XD_

 _Anyways, enjoy!_

 _And, please review! I love them!_

* * *

 _IT was so close, it hurt._

 _Bart opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out. Just an empty echo of a voice. A useless whimper for help. There were hands around his neck, an inhibitor collar to go with it._

 _He was choking, choking, choking._

' _Not again. Not aGaiN. I said no, IsaidNO-'_

 _But, IT didn't listen. IT never listened. IT was evil, evil, evil. IT always had been. All IT wanted was to hurt. To scratch. To bite. To bleed._

 _And, Bart remembered this scene. Gods, how could he forget? The fluorescent lights and soft crinkling of sheets. The struggle and heavy breaths. Being pinned down against his will. A flow of incessant tears._

 _He remembered. He remembered all too well._

 _And, suddenly, it was the blankets that were choking him. Stealing his breath away as soon as he inhaled it. He couldn't stop falling, falling, falling. And IT wouldn't stop. Nails against a chalkboard. Needles puncturing holes in his lungs. IT wouldn't let go. He scratched at his eyes, screaming silently in his own mind. Crying, crying. Beg, little slave, beg._

 _IT just laughed. Poor little slave boy cried, cried, cried._

 _Poor slave boy was so small. Tiny hands, tiny feet, tiny body. Perfect body, IT said. He hated IT,. Hated, hated, hated. So, so ashamed, small slave boy, but why, why, why?_

 _It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt._

 _So much noise. So much static. Tears and blood and laughter. IT went again, again, again. Small slave boy was so small and scared. He cried, cried, cried._

 _It hurtsitHurtSITHuRTsItHurTS-_

 _Blank static. So much pain. He was on fire._

 _He screamed._

 _Nobody heard._

* * *

Bart woke up screaming.

 _Actually_ screaming this time. It didn't sound like his own voice, though, so small and scared. Almost feral. So fragile, like he would break at any given moment. He threw himself off the couch that had been placed in the deemed "lounge room" of the Watchtower, crawling back in a desperate attempt to escape any remnants of that... _that_ …

The television played reruns of Family Guy. The Watchtower was silent except for faraway laughter he could hear coming from deeper within the vicinity. The night was peaceful. Serene.

Everything about this scene was normal.

Everything, except for him.

Bart turned his nose up to stare at the ceiling above him. He tried to distract himself with thoughts like " _The Watchtower should probably get a skylight!"_ or " _I wonder if there's another planet looking over at us right now..."_

It didn't help. Memories flooded back like a relentless stream. Bart's breath was laboured. He shut his eyes tightly, hot pools of tears oozing down his cheeks. They hit the floor dejectedly. He balled his hands into fists.

' _How pathetic_ are _you?_ '

"Bart?"

His head snapped up in surprise. Jaime stood in the doorway, wearing that worried look all boyfriends wore when they walked in on their significant others having a mental breakdown.

Did that even happen? Or was he just making it up as he went along?

Embarrassed, Bart hid his eyes behind his bangs, wiping away the snot and tears on his sleeve. He tried to get up, to show Jaime that he was okay, but his knees wobbled, and he tumbled back down to the ground. Jaime rushed over and just barely managed to catch him. He softly grabbed hold of Bart's shoulders.

"I'm fine." Bart whispered out hoarsely, locking eyes with Jaime's, " _J-_ "

He cleared his throat.

" _J-_ just a nightmare."

' _Not just a nightmare.'_

His boyfriend looked at him disbelievingly. Steadying the both of them and easing Bart to a standing position, Jaime took Bart's hand and slowly guided him back to the couch.

Back, back, back.

 _Choking BLanKETs._

Bart shuddered. Jaime felt it and squeezed his hand even tighter. They sat back down on the article of furniture in complete silence. Bart rested his head on Jaime's shoulder, gnawing at his thumb nervously.

Jaime glanced over at him. And, _Gods_ , if he didn't get butterflies every time his boyfriend did that.

"Are you okay?"

"No."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Bart took a shaky breath in. He was back to trembling. Tears welled up in his eyes, but he forced them back down with his fear. What good would crying do him now? He felt sick. There was a ringing in his ears. Memories danced to a tune of treachery and misery behind his eyes. He bit his lip. Swallowed the frog in his throat.

"N-not right now. I don't know. I just want to...to _forget_."

' _Can't forget. Never forget.'_

He shut his eyes.

' _Want to sleep.'_

He expected Jaime to pry. To keep pushing until he was forced to tell. So many people had. So many people would've.

But Jaime-that beautiful human being-just nodded his head softly. He got up and exited the room, only to return with a pack of Jumbo Sized Chicken Whizees and a pile of old DVD's balanced in his arms.

"Movie night?" he asked with a small, knowing smile. Bart's eyes widened in surprise before his features softened. He smiled thankfully over at Jaime.

Bless his soul.

"That sounds crash, Blue."

And for a minute, he could allow himself to forget.

* * *

"It hurt me."

They were in the middle of watching The Matrix. Neo was in the middle of doing something or other that was incredibly badass. Bart honestly wasn't paying attention.

His boyfriend turned to look at him at him, the movie the least of both their worries. Neo was in the process of saving the entirety of the world from evil aliens. Bart was _supposed_ to be doing that, but was instead sitting around crying and complaining. He absolutely despised himself for it.

"Scarab?" Jaime asked nervously. Bart drummed his fingers on his pant leg. He shook his head.

"It's... _no_. _Not_ Scarab. Not you, either. But, like, another being entirely? _I-I_ don't know how to say it. It's confusing."

Jaime nodded his head in understanding, waiting patiently for Bart to continue. He bounced his foot up and down incessantly. He then looked up, blinking the tears away from his eyes.

"So, _th-this thing_ , right? It had, like, no moral code or way of functioning at all. _I-It_ did what it wanted. You know, it didn't _care_."

Bart stared Jaime straight in the eyes.

"It wanted to... _hurt_ people."

Jaime nodded his head softly again, his eyes silently egging Bart to go on. The boy breathed in heavily through his nose. The words came out before his mind actually had time to fully process them.

" _It_...it tried to hurt _m-me_."

Jaime blinked. His face was passive. Bart got the feeling he was trying to process what he had just heard. The freckled teen bit his lip. Hard.

"And, it did it, Jaime. It hurt me."

A dark look took over his boyfriend's features. It actually scared Bart how angry he looked. The atmosphere around them turned an ashy grey. Jaime grabbed the remote with shaking hands and shut off the television.

Silence.

Jaime was deathly quiet.

There was a hand stuck in Bart's throat. It tugged at his vocal chords, tying them into knots. Bart bit his lip so hard his teeth sunk into the soft exterior of his lip and began to bleed.

"I felt _so_...so _dirty-_ " he choked out, feeling the tears rush back up to his eyes, "-like, I couldn't get this _huge weight_ off of me, and- _Oh God, i'm so sorry_ , _Jaime_." He wiped away at his tears with his sleeve once more. There was another shirt down the drain. The hand in his throat ceased his jaws, hardwiring his mouth shut. Bart sat there crying silently for the first time in a long time. It felt like he could go on crying forever. Like he was an endless waterfall of tears.

Jaime wrapped an arm around Bart's upper torso and hugged him in close. Bart buried his face into his boyfriend's chest, sniffling. Jaime held so tight, that Bart thought that maybe he wouldn't let go. Maybe they could just sit here like this forever.

"You don't have to say anymore, _cariño_." he whispered softly, "I understand."

Bart nodded his head, his hair brushing up against Jaime's sat like that for a good, long while, simply holding onto one another as though the world depended on it. And, it practically did. Because, honestly, without Jaime, Bart would have lost his way quite a long while ago.

Jaime was his rock. His mediator. Hell, the love of his life.

As stupid as that sounded, it was the honest truth. And if anybody asked him what he thought of Jaime Reyes, _that_ would be his honest answer _each_ and _every_ time.

Bart loved him.

They only separated when Jaime accidentally sat on the remote, allowing Neo to unpause and, therefore, continue being incredibly badass.

They both turned to the television. After exactly five seconds of unprecedented silence, they both burst into fits of uncontrollable giggles.

The rest of that night was spent binge-watching multiple shows and movie series whilst cuddling up comfortably on the couch and shoving their faces with Chicken Whizees. They laughed at the comedies. They cried at the sad ones. They screamed at the horror.

Throughout it all, Bart realized that he was indeed still haunted by the memory of an ache that would most probably never go away. There was no resolution to this problem. No way to solve it like some Encyclopedia Brown mystery and then just be finished with it.

He would likely have to carry this burden with him for the rest of his life.

But, he had Jaime with him to help break through the pain.

His angel's face was illuminated by the bright lights of the television in the darkness of the Watchtower. A grin was settled onto his face, a puff of Chicken Whizees settled comfortably on his lip.

Bart leaned up and kissed him to steal it away. Jaime rolled his eyes. Bart laughed.

There was no denying this was going to be difficult. To a certain degree, everything was.

But, having his loving boyfriend there to make it more bearable was everything to Bart. It was, in fact, more than he could ever ask for.

It was going to be hard, but he was going to be strong.

For himself. For Jaime. For the world.

That was Bart's happy ending. And at the end of that day, it was enough to just smile and laugh and give in to this blissful happiness.

After all, a memory was still a memory, no matter how broken it was.

And Bart decided that today was the day he was going to start healing.


	4. Chapter 4

_AN: So, Bluepulse Week 2016: Day 4: Happiness. I absolutely love this one. It might be one of my favourites. Though, I do still have to write up the others...Anyways, enjoy! And, please review! More to come soon! We're already more than halfway through guys!_

 _Honestly, i'm just loving this week..._

* * *

"So, we're supposed to write down something that makes us _happy_?"

In all honesty, after everything that had gone down with the REACH, Jaime wasn't really in the mood to be sitting in this crowded, stuffy room.

It was post-REACH kidnapping disaster, and everyone was kind of mentally scarred. Or, that was what the League _wanted_ to believe about them, anyways. Because, apparently, in every adult's mind ever, when a "child" (note the use of brackets there) is exposed to trauma, they immediately require therapy, medication, and tons of TLC.

Honestly, Jaime just wanted to go home.

But, the League and Team wouldn't even let him do _that_. They had deemed him and most of his comrades- _ahem_ -" _mentally unfit_ " to return back to their homes just yet. This meant hours on end of group therapy sessions with Black Canary every morning of the week from ten to twelve, and crashing on the couch at the Mountain.

Shamelessly. Jaime practically owned that couch now.

The worst part was because Tye was here, Jaime couldn't even peel off the armor. Batman would actually murder him. So, whilst the others got to lounge around comfortably, and talk without hesitation to Black Canary, Jaime had to deal with an itchy bug suit and the annoying, know-it-all scarab that came with it.

Ugh.

"Yes." Black Canary-or, in group sessions, as they were supposed to call her, _Dinah_ -began, smiling almost evilly, "You are to write down a list of things that make you happy. You have exactly five minutes, starting... _now_."

Everybody's eyes widened, and Bl- _Dinah_ smirked at their reactions.

" _Uno momento!_ " Ed cried out, "You didn't even explain what we were supposed to _do_!"

"Didn't I say to write down a list of things that make you happy?" Dinah asked, crossing her left leg over her right knee. They all stared at her for another few seconds, completely bewildered at the lack of detail they had been given for this particular assignment. Jaime twirled his pencil around in his hand.

"You now have four minutes, twenty-seven seconds."

That seemed to get them all going. The proceeding minutes were similar to that of somebody in an exam room at school. Pencils scribbling, sheets flipping, shuffling all around the room. It was deathly quiet.

Jaime kind of gave up halfway through trying to figure out something to write down.

Instead, he thought about what the others around him were putting down. Skateboarding had to be at the top of Tye's list. Maybe after that it would be his friends. Virgil, the kid from Dakota City, was probably putting magnets on his list. The kid was always fiddling with one between his fingers. It never fell. Jaime was actually quite impressed.

He thought of putting Spanish down for a minute. Or maybe his little sister Milagro.

Chicken Whizees?

Everything just seemed so stupid.

Once again, Jaime thought that he would rather be anywhere else but here. And, it was totally unfair that they were practically keeping him trapped here with a bunch of runaways and a crazy therapist whose smile actually made Jaime squirm in his seat.

Why do the work anyways?

Jaime went back to playing with his pencil. There were teeth marks and pen doodles on it. It had been with him for quite a few weeks now. He absolutely refused to sharpen it, so it stayed duller than dull, making his writing smudge all over the paper.

He enjoyed making things difficult for those who wanted to take a look down his brain to see if they could try to fix something that very clearly didn't need fixing.

Had he mentioned he hated therapy?

Somebody jabbed him with their elbow. Jaime looked up to see Bart grinning at him. He motioned over to Dinah, who was turned around, getting something on her desk. Bart made an imaginary revolver with his hand, put it to his head, and pretended to spin the cylinder around.

Dinah shuffled around. La'gaan sneezed.

Bart pulled the trigger. He then proceeded to " _drop dead_ " in his seat.

Jaime had to cover his mouth to muffle his giggles. Dinah turned around, and Bart and Jaime sat up perfectly straight in their seats, giving her both twin angelic smiles. She raised an eyebrow.

"Something else to motivate you all," she started again, staring pointedly in Bart and Jaime's direction, "If you don't get this done in the next, now, twenty-five seconds, you will get an extra five sessions to come to. And it'll increase _each_ and _every time_ you refuse to do the work, so I suggest you pay attention."

 _Shit_.

"You now have fifteen seconds."

Fuck, fuck, _fuck_.

Pencils scribbled even faster. Jaime stared down at his blank piece of paper, eyes widened in a state of panic. No way in _hell_ was he coming back here for five more sessions, He'd rather step on burning, hot coals.

Okay. Something that made him happy. Like, made him laugh and smile? Made him feel good inside?

He didn't even have time to think about it before he was quickly scribbling down the words ' _Bart Allen_ '. He only realized how stupid that was afterwards. He flipped his pencil over in a desperate attempt to erase it, but the stupid Black Canary interrupted him.

"Blue Beetle. Turn your sheet over. The assignment is over now."

" _But I-"_

"Unless, of course, you _want_ five more extra sessions."

Grumbling, Jaime flipped his sheet over angrily. He glared down at his feet. Damn her and her stupid mind tricks.

Dinah then paired them off into groups of two, where they were supposed to show their answers to their partner somewhere privately and discuss why these things were so important to them.

Jaime, of course, ended up getting paired off with the _one and only_ Bart Allen.

He _really_ hated therapy…

* * *

"So, what did you put down?" Bart questioned, raising an eyebrow in Jaime's general direction. Jaime, for his part, mumbled something incomprehensible under his breath, chewing at the end of his pencil in disdain. This was probably one of the one of the crappiest situations he had ever managed to get himself into. And, considering he had been experimented on by a crazy alien scientist, that was _saying_ something.

"So, we're not in a sharing mood then?"

Jaime didn't answer. He continued to chew nervously on his pencil, his eyes focusing in on Tye and Virgil's easy conversation. They were laughing, talking in depth about their lists. Practically everyone in the room but he and Bart were. Even Asami, who knew little to no english, was managing to converse pretty well with the Crazy Therapist herself.

Jaime sighed.

Before he even had time to process it, his paper was being grabbed out from under him. He would have screamed, but that would have caused a scene, and Jaime hated scenes. He froze, mortified, as Bart's eyes scanned the contents of the page.

Damned speedsters and how fast they could move.

Jaime was expecting Bart to laugh. Laugh and tease him, maybe. Or, get angry, and tell him that his answer wasn't appropriate at all. Even then, that seemed a little out of character for Bart. He desperately wanted to explain that it has been an "In The Moment" kind of thing. That it was more of a joke than anything. But the words died on his tongue, along with his pride at that exact same moment.

But Bart just grinned.

Grinned, and set the paper down, and slid it back to Jaime. Grinned, and shook his head. The kid wouldn't stop smiling stupidly over at him like that. It put Jaime completely on edge.

"Wow, Blue." he spoke up, "That's really quite a coincidence, actually."

Bart flipped his sheet over and lifted it up to reveal it's contents. Jaime's jaw dropped in shock. His eyes widened to twice the size they usually were.

' _Jaime Reyes'_

That was actually what it said on Bart's paper. What made him happy. Jaime Reyes. It wasn't often that something truly shocked Jaime, but this was just unbelievable. He locked eyes with Bart, and shut his mouth for fear of looking stupid in front of the boy.

Was this just a really strange coincidence? An accident?

A sign?

He almost laughed himself out of the room for that last one. How pathetic could he really be?

Still, he couldn't help but notice how much his face heated up when Bart smiled again. Or how his heart picked up it's pace and a small smile graced his own features when he realized Bart's cheeks had a pinkish hue to them as well.

"So, uh, you think we should, you know, further discuss this?" Bart tentatively asked, " _Without_ the Crazy Therapist Lady around?"

Jaime snorted, and ended up biting his lip. His heart was now hammering in his chest. It was so loud, he was almost afraid that Bart would be able to hear it. Scarab was unnaturally silent. Jaime smiled softly, and nodded.

"Yeah. That sounds good. Want to have lunch in the kitchen here, since we're on Mountain Arrest?" he joked, and Bart giggled. He nodded his head as well.

"Sure! It's a date!"

Both their eyes widened respectively, and the two averted their eyes from one another. Jaime stared straight down at his shoes, breathing in and out heavily. The blush on his cheeks became even more prominent, and he swallowed awkwardly.

Bart turned back to look shyly at him. " _I-I mean_ , I didn't mean it in _that_ way. I mean, I _did_ , but if you don't _want_ to. _I mean-_ "

" _No!_ No, it's…" Jaime trailed off, at a complete loss for words. Bart finally met his gaze. Jaime stared into his green eyes, courage unwavering. He smiled.

"It's a date."

Bart's grin was one of the most brilliant things Jaime had ever come into contact with. He lit up like a Christmas tree.

Maybe this would end up working out after all.

Maybe they could actually find a way to truly be happy.

(And also find a way to skip out on the damned therapy…)


	5. Chapter 5

_AN: Bluepulse Week 2016: Day 5: Season 3. I didn't have many ideas this one, so it's basically some plotless fluffy goo and a fight scene all meshed together in one. Did I mention I probably suck at fight scenes? And fluffy goo? XD_

 _Hopefully i'll be able to make up for it tomorrow, which is family day! I have a great idea for that. Thank you for all the reviews and views thus far. I hope to see more as I continue on! (hint hint)_

 _Please enjoy! See you tomorrow!_

* * *

' _Beast Boy to Robin. When we get back to Homebase, I am in desperate need of some Cheetos, over.'_

Bart smirked as soon as Gar's thought passed through his and everyone else's mind. Everyone internally groaned, and you could practically hear Gar's satisfaction through the mind link. Wonder Girl, who was kneeling right next to him, rolled her eyes so far back, Bart was almost afraid she was going to break them.

"Honestly…" Cassie mumbled under her breath, crossing her arms over her chest and huffing in exasperation. Bart's grin grew ten times it's size.

Gar had been complaining about the lack of snacks in the Watchtower for weeks now. Every opportunity he could take to point the fact out, he would. Everybody was annoyed by it. Bart was extremely amused.

He was also one hundred percent behind Gar. The lack of snacks at the Watchtower was just unjust.

' _Beast Boy, this is Robin. There will be no Cheetos, let alone any mentions of snacks until after we restock at the Watchtower. Also, this is a mind link, not a walkie-talkie. You don't have to say "over" every time you finish a thought.'_

Wonder Girl snickered next to him. She stood up, stretching out her lasso. She was ready to beat up whoever got in her way, Bart could tell. He made a mental note to stay at least five feet away from her at all times for the rest of the night.

They had been assigned the mission of checking out some sort of "Assasination Organization" in the northern part of some desert. Bart usually just did what Tim told him to do, meaning he didn't really listen in on the briefing sessions Nightwing usually had planned for them.

Actually, forget the 'usually'. There was _always_ a briefing. Nightwing _loved_ his briefings. He probably couldn't survive a day without them.

They had been paired off in groups of two. Bart had ended up with Cassie. Which was fine. She was nice enough.

Ever since Dick had come back, they had trashed the "Pick A Team And Stay With Them For The Rest Of Forever" idea. Dick figured that variety was good for everyone, and excellent for team-building fluffiness, or something like that.

"Familiarity breeds contempt, Kal." he had explained to Aqualad, "They need to be on different teams."

They were in the process of trying out different things. One week they had tried all sticking together as a Team. Another, they had all gone solo. Both times had gone terribly wrong. Right now, being paired off into two was the plan. Bart figured it would last another week, and then somebody would get annoyed and downright refuse to do it anymore.

Bart found it odd how quickly Nightwing had come back. He had, after all, left because of...Wally's death. It just didn't seem like he had left all that long, or had been that affected. Then again, Bart himself had been offered a break from the Team to "come to terms" with it, and had denied. Mostly because Artemis hadn't, and Bart was kind of following her lead, as she seemed to know what she was doing.

Still. He wasn't stupid. He heard the gossip that went around.

" _He doesn't care about his own cousin's death!"_

and:

" _He waltzes around in that Kid Flash outfit like he doesn't even care."_

or:

" _Poor kid. Has to deal with all of this. He's too young."_

as well as:

" _I heard he's in a pity relationship with that Beetle kid because of it."_

That last one really pissed him off. The others could say whatever they wanted about him behind his back, he could honestly care less. But, Jaime was a different story altogether. He had already been through so much. He didn't need their snide comments in his life.

' _-Kid Flash? Do you copy?'_

Bart snapped back into the realm of consciousness. Cassie was giving him a confused sort of stare. He blinked.

' _Yup. Just daydreaming about Cheetos. What's up? Over.'_

He could practically here Gar's snort from where he stood.

' _Lagoon Boy and Blue Beetle require assistance. They are being attacked by unknown personnel. We believe that out of all of them, one of the top assassins is there. We need you to go over and help capture them, so that we can question them of their whereabouts afterwards. Mentally sending the coordinates now.'_

Bart always found the mind link to be mega crash for this exact reason. With just a thought you could communicate so much data. Telepaths were super crash.

' _Got it. On it. See ya, Wondey!'_

Before Cassie even had time to ponder the nickname, Bart was gone, leaving a trail of dust and sand behind him. He was at the coordinates Robin had given to him in seconds. _Actually_. Lagoon Boy was using his magics to beat off the bad guys. Crash.

Blue Beetle was nowhere in sight. Not crash.

Bart ran over to La'gaan, knocking five guys down in the process. The teen turned over to glare at him, facial expressions stuck in permanent " _resting bitch face_ " mode. _So_ moding.

"Where's Blue?"

"He took off that way. Why, going to go make out with your _boyfriend_ , _chum_?"

Bart ignored that comment. He took off in the direction La'gaan had said Jaime was in. He was annoyed now, which was _not_ _crash_ at all. Maybe he _would_ make out with Jaime. Right in front of La'gaan. Just to put him on edge.

Stupid fish boy.

Bart came to a steady halt in an empty piece of desert. He looked around, eyes narrowed. He didn't have to search for long, though, as a flying Beetle suddenly came racing towards him at an alarming rate.

Good news: Bart broke Jaime's fall.

Bad news: Bart broke Jaime's fall.

He hissed in pain, bringing his hand up to his chest. It was throbbing. _Awesome_. Hopefully it wasn't broken…

He turned his attention back to the action. Jaime was back up and in the process of fighting a woman cloaked all in brown. She managed to blend in with the sand quite well. She was apparently also very skilled at fighting, as she was overtaking Blue with each step he took. Bart straightened up and ran at her in an attempt to knock her down.

This didn't turn out so well, as she jutted out her hand and caught Bart by the neck, lifting him up as though he weighed nothing. She smirked, grabbing a knife out from her pocket and placing it to Bart's cheek.

"Stupid little boy." she grinned. Bart's eyes widened.

" _Ba_ -Kid Flash! Move!" he heard Jaime yell.

Luckily, when somebody told Bart to move, he did it. In fact, it was something he was very skilled at doing. Bart vibrated a bit in her hands. This act managed to throw her off her game completely, and she dropped Bart in surprise. Jaime took this moment of shock to shoot a blue staple at her. She went flying through the air, landing a few feets back on the floor, unconscious.

Bart also fell on his ass. Not so crash.

But, Jaime managed to brighten his spirits, as he turned to Bart and grinned. Bart smirked back, and the latino reached a hand out to him and Bart took it, standing up and facing his significant other.

' _Kid. Beetle. Status report._ ' Tim's voice echoed in their minds. Bart dropped his words like he dropped everything else non-important in his life. They dropped to the sand below, falling on deaf ears. He stepped towards Jaime and wrapped an arm around his boyfriend's neck, bringing him down to his level and kissing him gingerly.

A " _Thank You For Saving My Ass_ " kiss. And a good one at that.

Jaime's suit shifted off, and the two tumbled down into the sand, deepening the kiss quite a bit. The desert around them was quiet. The stars were really pretty from down here. Maybe it was because of Jaime. He seemed to make everything beautiful.

Bart was in a state of pure bliss.

' _Kid? Beetle?'_

Bart had never been more happy to ignore someone.


	6. Chapter 6

_AN: Bluepulse Week: Day 6: Family. I've been really excited for this one! I would've liked to do a bit more with it, but was really sick this morning, so I couldn't. Like, throwing up kind of sick. I'm also neglecting my studies for this, so, HURRAH! FAILING TIME!_

 _Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this. Can you believe it's the second to last day? That's CRAZY. It's been so fun, too! Anyways, thanks for all the reviews once again, and please enjoy the craziness here!_

 _Oh. And, you didn't know, Jenni is Bart's cousin from the comics, and Owen and Thad are his half brother and clone. They're not OC's, they're canon, and I sadly do not own them. :(_

 _Read! Review! Enjoy!_

* * *

"They can't possibly be as bad as Milagro."

Jaime turned to Bart with his eyebrow raised. Bart looked in Jaime's direction and sighed. He shook his head softly.

" _I don't know_ , Blue. You don't know my family…" he began, trailing off. Jaime smiled reassuringly.

"I managed to get Barry and Wally to like me, did I not?"

Bart looked over at Jaime warily. "That statement could be argued." Jaime scoffed and rolled his eyes. Barry and Wally liked him! Well, for the most part, anyways. Jaime tended to ignore their glares. And the way they looked on disapprovingly whenever Jaime kissed Bart.

They were boyfriends. In a relationship. It's what they _did_.

"Well, whatever." Jaime spoke up, "They still can't be as bad as Milagro."

Today was a special day which Jaime was extremely excited for. Bart was taking him to meet his family. They knew that Bart had a significant other, but had never really met him. Jaime was both ecstatic and a nervous wreck all at once. Not the greatest combination to be, but he was dealing with it nonetheless.

Apparently, they were all time travellers, or something like that. Which was _also_ very cool. Getting to know _one_ time traveller was exciting enough, but an entire _family_ of them?

As Bart would say, _mega crash_.

Still, when Bart's mother, Meloni, had invited them both over for dinner, Bart had been a little hesitant.

"They're... _not_ your normal, every day family, Blue. _Nothing_ like yours." he had said, feet crossed together nervously. Jaime had comforted him. In all honesty, his family was way too weird. They were perfect. No family was perfect.

Bart called him out on his bullshit. Jaime had stayed true to his belief.

Ultimately, they ended up walking towards Bart's mom's place. Jaime could tell that Bart was probably more nervous than he was. He hadn't really said much about anything. Jaime didn't even really know who he was meeting with other than Bart's mother. He tried to stay optimistic nonetheless.

You know, for Bart's sake.

As soon as they reached Meloni's front door and knocked, that courage failed completely.

Bart began to panic.

" _Shit_. _Okay_. They'll probably all try to kill you. My mom will love you. Jenni will attempt to shove you into an oven to watch you spontaneously combust. Owen will glare at you from afar. And _stay_. _Away_. _From_. _Thad_." he blurted out, eyes never leaving the front door.

Jaime's eyes widened in horror, but before he even had time to turn and _run the fuck out of there_ , the door opened, and a brownish-purple blur came rushing out, flying straight into his boyfriend.

" _Bart_!"

Bart smiled. "Hey Jenni. Long time no see!"

Jenni, who had long, brown hair that was braided and a purple cardigan, grinned up at Bart. "No kidding! Look how much you've grown, kid!" she laughed, ruffling up his hair. Jaime smiled at the scene unfolding before him, but froze when he and Jenni finally made eye contact.

"Who's this?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. Jaime and Bart exchanged a look. Jaime shifted. Bart cleared his throat.

"Jaime, this is Jenni, my cousin. And, Jenni, this is Jaime... _my boyfriend_."

The entire atmosphere switched from happy and breezy to cold and tense. Jenni's smile never faltered, but there was a sort of malice behind it. Jaime shuddered. He swore he could see lightning in her eyes.

' _Jenni will attempt to shove you into an oven to watch you spontaneously combust.'_

Jaime didn't doubt it.

"Why don't you come on in then?"

Jaime swallowed, but entered the house nonetheless. The door slammed behind him, and he jumped. Now he was trapped here. Forever. In his mind, the door let out a huge bellowing cackle, and Jenni dragged him over to an oven, placing him inside and shutting the door, whilst laughing evilly.

 _Snap_. Back in the real world. A lady with hair that looked way too similar to _not_ be Bart's mother came up and smiled. Jaime attempted to awkwardly jut out his hand in order to shake hers, but she instead grabbed him in for a hug. Jaime's lungs were crushed. Scarab yelled out warnings in his head. Jaime screamed silently at him to shut up.

Jesus Christ, was _everybody_ out to kill him?

" _You_ must be Jaime," she smiled, finally ending the greeting, and allowing Jaime to _fucking breathe again_ , "It's _so nice_ to _finally_ meet you."

' _Say something back, you blubbering idiot!'_

"Likewise."

' _FUCK. What was THAT?'_

Meloni smiled softly, cocking an eyebrow over in Bart's direction. "You never told me he was _cute…_ "

Jaime turned a shade similar to that of a tomato. Bart rolled his eyes.

"Nice to see you too, _mom_."

Meloni grinned and brought Bart in for the same treatment that Jaime had received, though Bart seemed to tolerate it a bit better than Jaime had. Meanwhile, Jaime tried to stop his face from heating up, all the while ignoring Jenni's glaring in his general direction.

Jaime made a mental note to keep away from any sort of oven. So, the kitchen was a huge no-no.

' _My mom will love you.'_

Okay. So, that was one positive factor. Jaime actually didn't know how true that was, but judging by the dreamy look Meloni was giving him, Jaime figured that Bart's estimate was pretty on point.

Which probably meant most of his other ones would be as well…

 _Great_.

Dinner smelled great. Jaime spent most of the time waiting for it hanging out on the couch in Bart's family room. Bart and Jenni started talking, and Jaime just sort of watched them go on. They would sometimes slip into a super-speeded sort of talk, and he wouldn't hear a word they said. Minutes probably felt like hours to them. Every once and awhile, Jenni would glare over at him, and Jaime would avert his gaze.

He went and hid in the bathroom for about five minutes. Hell, he even thought about escaping through the window, but instead put on a brave face and headed back to the family room.

He could definitely do this. No doubt about it.

Well, everything had been going kind of well. They were sitting down at the table just starting to eat (Jaime had already made sure to thank Meloni ten trillion times for the food, and had complimented her on her cooking) when things went from bad to worse.

The door opened. And two other people entered.

"Owen's home!" Jenni exclaimed, jumping from her seat and racing to the front door. Jaime blinked, looking back in the direction she had run off in.

Owen.

' _Owen will glare at you from afar.'_

Okay. Jaime could deal with that. Not like he hadn't been handling it with Jenni thus far. Just don't be intimidated by Owen. Stay strong. Stay stable.

Jaime dropped all this useful information down the metaphorical drain when Owen actually walked into the room. The guy was a _fucking_ _giant_. _Actually_. He _towered_ over Jaime. Hell, he towered over _Meloni_. The guy was probably in his late twenties. And, as soon as he walked in the room, he proceeded to glare at Jaime, just as Bart had predicted he would.

Jaime stared down at his knees.

But, the surprise-visit wasn't over. Far from it, actually.

Because, from the front door, another boy walked in. Upon first glance, this one was a lot less intimidating. Blonde. Short. Scrawny. Kind of looked like Bart, actually. Then Jaime did the biggest double take of his life because, _holy shit_ , that _was_ Bart, except Bart was sitting next to him, and _definitely_ was not blonde, so there were _two_ _Bart's, what the fuck?_

Blonde Bart turned to Real Bart, raising a fine eyebrow. "Who's the guy?" he questioned. Real Bart sighed, massaging his temples. Meloni smirked.

"Oh boy. Okay. Let's do this again." he began, "Thad. Owen. This is-"

" _Jaime_. _The boyfriend._ " Jenni interrupted with words filled with malice, eyes narrowed in Jaime's direction. He swallowed fearfully. Bart rolled his eyes.

"And, Jaime, this is Owen and Thad, my brothers."

Jaime legitimately gawked for a minute. Bart had _brothers_? Thad- _Not Real Bart, But Brother_ -raised his eyebrow even further up. Owen and Jenni's glares increased tenfold. Meloni stood up and smiled once more (that lady was full of smiles).

"Owen. Thad. Want to wash up for dinner? We're having salmon."

This was going to be a _long_ night…

* * *

"So, Jaime, where are you from?"

Jaime blinked and turned to look up at Meloni. She was giving him a warm smile, which made Jaime a little more comfortable with the situation.

"El Paso."

"Really?" Meloni questioned interestingly, taking another bite of her dinner. Bart, from the other side of the table, nodded his head.

"Yeah, mom. He's Spanish."

"Is he!?" Meloni exclaimed, head whipping up. Jaime couldn't help but smile at that. She was exactly like Bart. "Could you maybe say something for us?"

" _What's the point if we wouldn't understand?_ " Jenni grumbled under her breath. The table fell back into awkward silence after that. Jaime turned back to his plate, biting his lip and curling his toes anxiously.

"If you live all the way in El Paso, how did you meet Bart?" Jenni questioned blatantly, dropping her knife and fork onto her plate with a " _clank_ ". Jaime looked up, meeting her gaze.

"Superhero business, Jenni." Bart answered, popping another piece of fish into his mouth. Jenni's eyes never left Jaime, her lip upturned in disdain.

" _Yeah, but-"_

" _Jenni_." Meloni began in a warning tone. It was the most serious Jaime had ever seen her. Jenni silenced herself, glaring down at her plate.

"You got any siblings?" Owen inquired, face dangerously passive. Jaime, despite himself, smiled.

"Yeah," he responded, "A sister named Milagro."

"She's nice?"

"As nice as a sister can be."

Thad snorted. Jaime turned to look at him. He suddenly remembered Bart's heavy warning of staying away from him. But, the blonde didn't look that dangerous. Frankly, he was more scared of Jenni then he was Thad. He cleared his throat for what felt like the fiftieth time that night.

"So, are you two twins, or something?" he inquired.

 _Bad idea._

 _Everybody's_ eyes widened at that, and Jaime cursed himself. He had ruined it. And he didn't even know what he had said to make them all react like that! _Damn_ _it!_ Thad turned to Bart.

"Did you tell him _anything_?"

"Well, I figured you guys would have gotten rid of him upon his arrival here, so, _no_ , I didn't."

Owen scoffed. He turned back to Jaime. "Thad is Bart's clone."

For the second time that night, Jaime was completely taken aback. Upon seeing his facial expression, everyone burst out laughing. Even Jenni. Though, she caught herself, and turned sour again quite quickly. Owen was grinning though.

" _Y-you_ never told me that." Jaime managed out, embarrassed at having been the laughing stalk of the night. Bart grinned.

"You never asked."

"So I was supposed to _know_?"

There was more laughter. Jaime found that the conversation after that was much easier than it had been before. They learnt quite a few things about one another throughout the night. Owen was actually an archer, and was very skilled at what he did. Jaime also heard plenty of stories about Thad and Bart trying to kill each other. Meloni's childhood was incredible. Even Jenni opened up and told some stories, though she only really talked in Bart's general direction when she did so.

Jaime told plenty of his own stories as well. His and Bart's adventures. Taking down the REACH. They were all keen on listening to those ones.

When the night finally came to an end, and Bart and Jaime got ready to leave, Jaime was actually kind of sad. He definitely did not want to hang around and take the risk of being shoved into an oven by an angry speedster, but Meloni's place was less of a _house_ and more of a _home_. Warm and inviting. Maybe not all the members _inside_ said house were all that welcoming, but the house itself was... _nice_. Really nice.

Jaime received another bone-crushing goodbye hug from Meloni (as well as a possible broken finger, he would have to check that out in the morning), a mumbled goodbye from Jenni, and an eyebrow raise from Thad. Bart joked with them all, and promised to come by for another dinner party soon. Jenni told him not to bring Jaime the next time around. Everybody laughed nervously.

Jaime honestly couldn't tell whether she was serious or not.

It was only when he and Bart were outside and starting to walk back from where they had come from that Jaime felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around, and his eyes widened in surprise. Owen stood behind him, out of breath from running to catch up with him.

It took him about a minute to recollect himself, but when he finally did, he smiled.

"You're a good kid, Reyes." he began steadily, "Jenni and Thad may be wary, but I can tell you're a good kid."

Jaime's eyes practically popped out of their sockets.

"Take good care of Bart and we won't have any problems."

And with that, he was gone, walking back to the house. He didn't turn back once. Jaime blinked and stared after him, a million thoughts running through his mind.

But, it all made sense, now. Jenni didn't hate him necessarily, and neither did Thad or Owen. They were _worried_ about Bart. They just wanted the best for him. Like he would want the best for Milagro if- _God forbid_ - _she_ ever got a boyfriend. It was like a truck filled with bricks had just hit him. He was in a state of shock.

' _Take good care of Bart.'_

Jaime found himself chuckling.

How could he not?

" _Jaime!_ " Bart cried, racing up to him, "You coming, Blue?" He leaned in and kissed Jaime on the cheek. Jaime nodded his head, smiling in Bart's direction. He took Bart's hand in his.

' _Take good care of Bart.'  
_  
" _Yeah_. Yeah, i'm coming."

* * *

" _Told you_ they were crazy." Bart smirked as they walked down the street. Jaime laughed, squeezing Bart's hand tighter in his own.

"I swear, I was terrified of ending up in an oven."

Bart busted out laughing, and Jaime laughed along with him. When Bart finally composed himself, he turned back to Jaime with a grin.

"We're _not_ going back there. _Ever_. Next family dinner is at _your_ place."

Jaime snorted. " _No way_."

Bart raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

Jaime smirked, turning to look back in the direction they had just came from. Bart also looked back, a small smile on his face.

"Come on, Bart. Don't kid yourself. They're _still_ not as bad as Milagro."

Their laughter bore into the night.


	7. Chapter 7

_AN: Oh my God, guys, it's the last day. I think I might cry. And, it's also affecting me physically, because apparently i'm sick. XD_

 _No, but, actually. This has been a blast, and i'm so glad I got to participate in it. I can't believe I got these all done in time. Most of them I wrote the day of, so i;m actually pleasantly surprised. I guess with this last humourous/internal-look-into-Jaime's-mind piece that we get to put a close on this year's dedicated Bluepulse week._

 _I'm still going to write fics about them, though. Nothing could stop that, lol._

 _I hope you enjoy this final chapter! Today was a free day, so I just went with it! A little less Bluepulsey than the others, but I went with it nonetheless, so I hope that's okay! Please check out my other stories, as they're all going to be updated very soon!_

 _And, a special thanks to my friends for sticking with me during this week. Sorry i've been so busy!_

 _(you know who you are...)_

 _Enjoy!_

 _(P.S. There's a Naruto reference in here for you fans, so see if you can spot that.)_

 _I'll see you all!_

 _-Sad (i'm actually really happy, but whatever XD)_

* * *

"YOU CAN'T MAKE ME GO!"

"I WILL DO WHATEVER I DAMN PLEASE."

It was a pretty normal Saturday afternoon. The sun was shining, the birds were singing. There wasn't a cloud in the sky.

And Jaime was dragging Bart into the dentist's office.

"FUCK YOU. PUT ME DOWN, ASSHOLE!" Bart screamed venomously, hitting at Jaime's back and shoulders angrily. Luckily, he was wearing his Blue Beetle armor, so it didn't do much damage. Still, it didn't help with the looks that they were getting. Jaime sighed, throwing Bart down into a waiting room chair. The boy instantly got up and attempted to make a run for it, Kid Flash costume sticking to his sweaty chest. Jaime grabbed him and forced him down before he even could.

He sighed once more.

"I SWEAR, BLUE, I WILL FUCK YOUR SHIT UP!"

"BART, THERE ARE KIDS HERE."

"LIKE I GIVE A SHIT."

The looks they were receiving grew in numbers. Jaime felt his face heat up from inside his suit, but focused on holding Bart down nonetheless. Scarab vibrated angrily, and Jaime shifted his attention to trying to get Khaji Da to _not_ shoot a plasma cannon at Bart's face.

" _Dios mio, cariño,_ you have a _cavity_. What do you _want_ me to do?" Jaime hissed. Bart himself vibrated angrily to match that of Khaji Da, arms crossed over his chest and a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"I want you to get me the _hell_ out of here! Cavities are moding! No thank you!" he exclaimed, waving his arms about for emphasis. Jaime all but face-palmed. Khaji Da muttered something about throwing Bart out the vicinities nearest window. People around them moved from their seats in fear.

Jaime supposed it wasn't every day you saw two superheroes in the waiting room of a dentist office.

"You do know that's why your tooth has been hurting, right? You could get really sick! This is serious!"

"Serious _my ass_."

" _Bart_ , I swear to _everything_ that is _holy-_ "

"Hello. Do you two have an appointment?"

Jaime turned to see a lady leaning over the desk, giving them both wary smiles. He blinked, eyes widening slightly. Bart took this moment to make another escape attempt. Jaime scooped the boy up in his arms, and Bart let out a series of curses under his breath.

He cleared his throat.

"Yes."

" _No_."

Jaime glared over at Bart, for the extra response had not been necessary at all. Bart simply grinned. Jaime turned back to the lady, who now wore an annoyed look on her face, but was going through her computer files nonetheless.

"What name am I looking for?"

" _Allen_. Bart Allen." Jaime answered, and Bart let out another curse, wiggling around in Jaime's arms. The hispanic simply held him tighter. A few kids sitting next to them shifted and whispered to one another. They stared at them with wide eyes.

"Ah. _Yes_ , Allen. Here you are. Dr. Lambsmith is already waiting for you right inside. You can go in." she spoke up, and turned her head to another co worker before Jaime could even manage out a thank you. It was clear he didn't want to talk.

Honestly, if Jaime had been in her position, he wouldn't have wanted to talk either.

Bart let out another scream. Jaime moaned.

" _BART_. Walk your _ASS_ to that _ROOM_."

" _NEVER_!"

"NOW."

"NO!"

Jaime picked Bart up and threw his boyfriend over his shoulder. Bart screamed and kicked and whined, but Jaime held strong.

This was how Jaime ended up carrying Bart to his dreaded dentist's appointment whilst the boy had a temper tantrum the entire way.

How embarrassing.

* * *

" _E-excuse me…"_

Jaime blinked, and turned to stare at the younger boy who had walked up to him. He had been one of the ones staring at him from before. His friends sat, staring from afar. Jaime raised an eyebrow, and the boy cleared his throat.

"Y-you wouldn't happen to be... _the_ Blue Beetle, would you?" he asked, brown eyes wide and curious. Jaime blinked once again, eyes zeroing in on the kid. He had soft, brown eyes and dark, fuzzy hair. There were two triangles face-painted on his cheeks. He had a dog plush with him.

Looked like an ordinary kid.

Yet he was asking the guy in Blue armor who had tried to take over the world whether or not he was that same guy?

"Yeah. I am." he said, eyes narrowing in confusion, "Why?"

The kid's face just lit up. His smile was so bright, Jaime almost fell out of his seat. He bounced up and down excitedly.

"Oh wow! Oh _wow, wow, WOW_! You're _the_ Blue Beetle! The _actual_ one!" he exclaimed, giggling and turning back to his friends with an "I Told You So" look on his face. They all stared wildly back at him. "Could I _PLEASE_ get your autograph, mister?"

Now Jaime was pretty sure he was hallucinating. No _way_ was this kid coming up and asking for his autograph. Hell, _nobody_ had ever asked him for that. It was completely unrealistic. Jaime had almost destroyed the entire planet when he had gone on mode. That was what he was publicly known for; being the REACH's scapegoat. Not a hero.

Not somebody _likeable_.

"I think you've got the wrong guy, kid." he offered, turning to look worriedly in the direction he had left Bart. The poor dentist. Jaime shouldn't have left him alone in there. Bad idea. Very bad idea.

"No way!"

Oh. He had almost forgotten the kid was still there.

"There were three Blue Beetles. The first was a long, long time ago. Like, when my mom was still young and beautiful! And, then there was the second one. He died in, like, a really big explosion, i'd like to think. And then there's you! It's because you all have different costumes! And, no offense to those other guys, but you're the best of the best!"

Jaime's jaw dropped. What the hell was this? There was a Blue Beetle expert? And he was a _kid_? Jaime was aware that Ted Cord had been pretty popular with everyone, but this was just taking it to a new level.

"H-how do you know all that?" he managed out. The kid just grinned again, spinning around on his heels.

" _Duh_! You're my favourite super hero! You're even better than _Superman_!"

Jaime stared in disbelief.

"But," he began, "Blue Beetle tried to ruin the world. To take it over with those REACH aliens, remember?"

Jaime was aware he was referring to himself in the third person. It was easier to cope with it that way, at least. In his mind, Bart's voice told him that it wasn't his fault. It couldn't have been. Khaji started on the reasons why he wasn't to be blamed.

Jaime shut them both out.

No matter how much he and others tried to deny it, it had been Jaime standing up there, preaching for the REACH and their dumb peach drinks. It had been his voice, his actions, his body.

All on him.

But, the kid in front of him gave him the most skeptical look. He laughed it off, like it was some kind of joke. Jaime wanted to tell him it wasn't. That it was a really big deal. That he had an alien clasped onto his spine that could burn the kid to a crisp in an instant.

But he smiled. And laughed.

And Jaime was confused.

"Yeah, no. You couldn't have known that they were trying to do that. You were only trying to help out! See, that's the best part about you. The first Blue Beetle is one that nobody remembers. The second was a superhero in all of his glory. But, you? You're human. You make mistakes. And, the thing with the REACH was definitely a mistake, yeah?"

He inhaled deeply.

"The thing about that is that you learn from your mistakes. You get better. I don't think it was your fault at all, but if you do, then it was a mistake. That's all."

He smiled, taking Jaime's hand in his. He stared down in shock, and the kid grinned.

"That's what makes you human! It's what makes you the best! Not all superheroes are like Superman, and lots of people don't get that. You're just like us. You have feelings. You're not indestructible! You're not _...what's that word again_ …" he mumbled, trailing off. His eyes were unfocused, trying to place a word that he couldn't quite find.

Jaime knew it instantly. It slipped from his mouth in a whisper.

" _Immortal_."

In an instant, he was back in the old grotto of Mount Justice. Before everything had gone wrong. Before the explosion and the red, burning pain. And Bart was there. And he was smiling.

" _You're carrying on the tradition!_ "

But…

" _Blue Beetle becomes the biggest, baddest, big bad in history."_

 _'Not yet. Not now, not ever. I won't let it happen. I can change it, and I will.'_

Jaime vaguely remembered signing the kids plush. And he vaguely remembered smiling for a picture. His mind was foggy, eyes far away. The kid said thank you over a million times.

Once more, Jaime couldn't manage out a thank you back.

It was only when the kid was long gone that Jaime realized just how wrong he had really been. All this time, he had been focusing on the negative side of things. He had been over thinking the hero that was Blue Beetle. He had been trying to make a point of living up to Ted. He had never felt good enough.

He was, after all, just the boy who had been caught in the crossfires. Everything up to this point he had counted towards pure luck.

But it wasn't.

Jaime wasn't supposed to be living up to Ted's legacy, he was supposed to be creating his own. He wasn't supposed to be overthinking Bart's future, he was supposed to be stopping it. There was so much negativity in his mind, all he could stay focused on was that.

And, all he needed, was to just let it all go.

A nine year old boy had taught him that.

When all was said and done, Jaime had indeed tried to take over an entire human race. His hands had harmed his friends. His grin had made people shiver. He and Khaji weren't the best pair.

They made mistakes. Plenty of them.

But he couldn't focus on the past. He couldn't obsess over those mistakes. His mind was chained to the thought that his actions could harm other people. That their lives were placed in his hands, and he was to balance them.

All he had to do was let go. To learn. To move on. To live.

When all was said and done, Jaime was no wiser sitting alone in that dentist office, shuffling around in his Blue Beetle suit.

But he was beginning to learn. Beginning to grow.

And all it took to light a fire was a spark.

* * *

"All in all, it wasn't that bad." Bart admitted when they walked out from the clinic, "I mean, it was actually pretty crash. He gave me candy after. The _dentist_. Gave me _candy_."

He laughed. Jaime smiled, but his mind wandered over the streets packed with cars. Bart turned to him, a worried look on his face.

"You good?"

Jaime turned to him and couldn't help but smile. He nodded, taking Bart's hand in his own. The boy blinked in confusion.

"Yeah. I've never been better."

Bart raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Did I miss something?"

Jaime chuckled. "Nothing really. I met a kid." Bart looked mildly concerned.

"Did you get a new boyfriend. Oh God, did you replace me?"

Jaime busted out laughing. Bart grinned.

"No. A fan, actually. Can you believe that? I have fans?"

Bart's jaw dropped. " _Totally_ unfair!" he exclaimed, "You can't have fans before I do!"

The two burst out laughing. A car honked at them for stopping in the middle of the street. Jaime rolled his eyes. Apparently, his armor wasn't as intimidating as he previously had thought. Bart went on to tell him that, despite how much fun the trip had actually been, he refused to return to the dreaded dentist. Jaime proceeded to tell him that he would drag his ass there if he had to.

The two laughed once more. They turned another corner.

Jaime found that the road ahead had never looked brighter.


End file.
